PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Returning to the road for the third time in four weeks, Rutgers baseball heads to Penn State for a four-game series beginning Friday. The weekend was originally scheduled as a three-team pod before Minnesota dropped out
due to health and safety concerns within its program.
The Scarlet Knights lead the Big Ten with 12 road wins and have won seven of the last eight games on the road. RU owns away series wins at Purdue, Northwestern, Michigan and Nebraska (sweep). The program has more road wins this year than the previous five Big Ten campaigns combined (11-47). In addition, the team is on track for its first season with a winning road record since 2007.
Big Ten Network+ is set to stream the first three games of the series, while the Monday series finale will broadcast on Big Ten Network with Chris Vosters and Jeff Leise on the call. A free radio broadcast will be available for the first three games through ScarletKnights.com and the Scarlet Knights App. Live stats from Sidearm Sports will be running as well to follow.
Entering on a five-game winning streak, the Scarlet Knights lost two games apiece to first-place Indiana and second-place Nebraska in a pod at Bainton Field. The pod wrapped up a stretch of 14 consecutive games against the top four teams in the standings with a 6-8 mark.
Taking on No. 17 Indiana on the front end of the pod, it marked a streak of eight-straight games versus a ranked opponent. The Scarlet Knights were one out away from victory on Saturday in a thrilling pitcher's duel.
Ben Wereski and the Hoosiers' McCade Brown each worked six no-hit innings, with 33 of the first 34 batters being retired. IU loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh on two hits and a walk, but Wereski escaped with nothing across.
Mike Nyisztor then smacked a solo homer to put RU on top in the last of the seventh, 1-0. However, the Hoosiers scored the tying run with two outs in the ninth and the game eventually was decided on a homer in the top of the 11
th in a 5-3 Indiana win.
After sweeping Nebraska in Lincoln the previous weekend, the Cornhuskers took the Sunday game and jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the top of the first on Monday. Rutgers chipped away with two in the bottom of the first and a solo homer by
Kevin Welsh in the second made it 6-3. Then in the seventh,
Ryan Lasko lifted a two-out, three-run homer to tie the game. The pitching staff threw 11 consecutive scoreless innings. The Scarlet Knights had the bases loaded with one out in the ninth, a runner at third with no outs in the 11
th and had a runner thrown out at home in the 12
th in opportunities to win. Nebraska broke through with a two-out RBI single in the 13
th. RU has now played five games reaching extra innings in 2021.
Hitting: Nyisztor went 8-for-18 with three walks last weekend and now leads the Big Ten with a .374 batting average and a .492 on-base percentage this season. He is also the toughest hitter in the league to strike out at once per 11 plate appearances. Welsh added seven hits in the home pod and is on a seven-game hitting streak, going 11-for-26 over that span.
Lasko's homer on Monday was his 10
th of the season, becoming the first Scarlet Knight since Patrick Kivlehan (14) in 2012 to reach double-figures and first RU freshman since Jaren Matthews (10) in 2008. In addition, Lasko is tied for 11
th among freshman nationally with the 10 long balls, ranking third overall in the Big Ten.
Chris Brito leads the offense with 31 RBIs and 18 walks drawn, and is second with nine homers. The Scarlet Knights have blasted 43 homers, tied for 10
th-most in a season in program history and the most for the team since 2010 (71).
Pitching: The Scarlet Knights will stick with the same first three in the starting rotation:
Harry Rutkowski, Wereski and
Brent Teller. The trio have combined for 121 career starts, 691 innings and 598 strikeouts.
Rutkowski is set to make is 42
nd collegiate start and 28
th to start a weekend, and is tied for third in program history with 206 strikeouts. The left-hander is second in the Big Ten with 65.2 innings pitched, with seven starts of at least six innings.
Wereski holds the top spot on the conference leaderboard for WHIP (0.93) and walks allowed per nine innings (1.53), while ranking third with a 4.6:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He has logged six quality starts. In his previous two road starts, Teller worked 14.1 innings with only four hits and two runs allowed and 16 strikeouts to beat Michigan and Nebraska. He ranks 39
th among active Division I pitchers with 223 career strikeouts, 18
th with 270.0 innings pitched and 21
st with 44 games started.
The bullpen has six different pitchers who have combined for 11 saves, tied for eighth-most in a season in program history.
Nate McLain holds a 2.08 ERA with only one earned run allowed in his last six outings.
Kyle Muller leads the staff with 16 games pitched, while
Dale Stanavich has fanned 23 in relief.
Overall, the pitching staff ranks first in the league with only 3.48 walks allowed per nine innings, while sitting third in the Big Ten with a 1.34 WHIP, moving up to fourth with a 4.45 ERA.
Rutgers previously met Penn State in a three-game series at Bainton Field the first weekend in April. The Nittany Lions won 1-0 on Friday and 5-1 on Saturday before the Scarlet Knights broke out for six runs in the eighth inning of the Sunday finale to overcome a 4-0 deficit. Both
Grant Shulman and Brito worked bases-loaded walks before
Jordan Sweeney crushed a go-ahead grand slam in a 6-4 win.
Since 1950, PSU leads the all-time series, 43-33. The teams last played at Medlar Field in 2019 and split two games in a rain-shortened weekend.
The previous time Rutgers and Penn State met in a four-game series was in Boca Raton, Florida, in 2009, with each winning two.
The Scarlet Knights wrap up the Big Ten schedule with a six-game homestand. RU will first host Michigan State in a three-game series starting May 21 at Bainton Field.
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